Life around the Lodge

 Here are a few random photos around the lodge....

Looking out at the dock from the deck.

Loading wood in the snow...you've got to do what you've got to do!

Stacking firewood

Coming up the boardwalk.

Warm Springs Bay on a calm day!

Heading over to the townsite (where our friend Tim is the winter caretaker and only winter resident).

Getting closer--you can see Baranof falls and some of the cabins if you look closely.

Our friends Dave and Anke stopped by for a visit.  They live aboard the engineless junk rigged sailboat they designed and built themselves (check out their website: Triloboats: Avast, Ye Curvy Dogs!).  Dave and Anke also caretake at the lodge on the years Jen and I take off--we've been alternating winters for the last 15 years or so!

Dave and Anke at the lodge dock.

Dave and Anke headed out of the bay to their other winter job, watchpersons at Tyee, an old cannery and whaling station site in Murder Cove on the southern tip of Admiralty Island.

Winter Critters around the Lodge

As usual, there were lots of birds to watch around the lodge!

Sunrise at the Great Blue Heron tree

Same tree, later in the winter!

Different tree, different bird!

Belted Kingfisher

I guess eating starfish is better than eating crow...

"Dropped my pencil!"

Looks like somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.....

Of course we saw lots of our usual critters as well.

Most people don't know that Red Squirrels love to eat turkey leftovers!

Mink Monopod

And mink also like to eat turkey!

I wonder what Louise is looking at.

Ah...a rare daylight appearance of a marten.  

And it turns out that marten also like turkey leftovers!

This squirrel has great balance!

It's a little tough to get a good hold on a peeled hard boiled egg (but he managed to do it).

Wild cats at Halloween!

Trifecta--the cats, Jen, and our reflected view!

 

Otter Nonsense!!!

 Hi Friends,  Jen and I didn't post many photos this winter because we had really poor internet this year.  We're home in Sitka now, so here are some photos from this year at the lodge.

As usual, we had daily visits from some of our resident River Otters.

They always liked to check out the dock.

Lots of Whiskers!

Tail Shaking Water Art

An Otter for All Seasons!

Late to Dock Aerobics!

Ready....

Down Otter

First Come......

.....First Served!

Last one into the pool is a rotten egg!

Let it Rain!!!

We had almost a foot of snow in November in small increments, but December brought in a Pineapple Express that gave us 18 1/2 inches of rain in the first ten days of the month with half of that in the first three days!  That took care of any snow we had on the ground around the lodge!

Snow view from the lodge.

Sadie Creek in the snow.

Documenting Thelma and Louise's first snow!

December 1 rainfall was over 4"!

Sadie Creek on day two of the monsoon after almost 8" of rain.  I've included my left index finger for scale!

Baranof Falls after 8" of rain in two days!

Here is a short video of the falls after the first few days of rain.  A friend who was on his boat at the dock estimated the current there at 6 knots!  The current actually swamped his skiff and pinned it under the dock.  He was finally able to get it out at low tide when the current was directed away from the dock.  (This is the first time I've posted a video, so I hope it loads OK!)

Back to Warm Springs Bay!

 Hi Friends,

We are fortunate to be spending the winter in Warm Springs Bay caretaking the Baranof Wilderness Lodge!  We figured out a while back that our first year here was 2004!  A quick Covid update on us--Jen is furloughed from Alaska Airlines and won't be flying until 2022!  Rick's job as captain of Polar Mist's extended summer cruise through SE Alaska has been postponed until next summer.

We have been here at the lodge since October 16th.  This photo is actually one I took from the skiff while I was out logging, but shows our dock, the main lodge, and some of the guest cabins.

We got a ride from Sitka this year with Jackson Dozier, who brought us and all our supplies around from Sitka.

All the bare necessities needed for seven months of remote living are protected under the tarp!

Thelma and Louise pretended they didn't like the boat ride, but they settled down once we got underway.  Thelma and Louise have been with us since last May.  They're siblings from Petersburg who I picked up with our friend Captain Paul, so they are experienced boat cats.  On the way back from Petersburg we actually spent the night here at the lodge, so this is not their first time at the lodge!

Capt Jackson backs the boat away from the work dock at the harbor in Sitka.  We normally take 10 to 12 hours to make the trip, but Jackson got us here in about 3.5 hours, in spite of what he said was the heaviest load he's had on the boat.  That slowed us down from 30 kts to about 25 kts.

The trip through Olga, Neva, and Peril Straits was smooth running!

We did get to enjoy a little "Chatham Chop" once we rounded the corner into Chatham Strait.

We had lots of cat accessories to unload.

Thelma and Louise enjoying their cat condo in their new home for the winter!

The cats love the "Artificial Sun" (big radiant heaters we use in the lodge)!

Lodge owner Mike Trotter heading out for a week of fly fishing on the Kenai.

Mike flew to Juneau by float plane to connect with Alaska Airlines.

That's Mike's plane taking off.

One of our fall chores is to lay in a supply of firewood for the winter.

These are two "volunteers" that I found floating out in Chatham Strait.  A "volunteer" is a log that I don't have to wrestle off the beach and into the water to tow back to the lodge.

Each log is cut into rounds.

Then "we" split and  stack it.  The woodshed is full, so we've got four pallets of wood that we tarp alongside the shed.

Mike's return from his trip.  He brought some supplies in for us from Juneau.

Mike rowing his dory over to the townsite for winter storage.

Not a bad spot for "Miller Time"!